India’s food security response to COVID-19

• by MSC
• Jun 9, 2021
• 1 min
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The case study provides a detailed account of the Government of India’s food security response to the COVID-19 pandemic through its Public Distribution System (PDS), the world’s largest food security program. It captures how the government reached its 810 million poor to provide food grains despite stringent lockdowns.

The Public Distribution System (PDS) run by the Government of India provides food security to about 810 million individuals by distributing more than 4 million metric tons of food grains every month. During the COVID-19 pandemic and the resulting lockdown, the government doubled the food grain entitlement of beneficiaries for the first eight months. To distribute the food grains, the central and state governments relied on their established and extensive technology-enabled logistical network with the help of the Food Corporation of India (FCI) and state food corporations. This network allowed officials to keep track of the movement and distribution of food grains in real time. At the last mile, that is, the Fair Price Shops (FPS) or ration shops, the FPS owners with the support from state governments followed safety measures while distributing food grains to the beneficiaries. This enormous task was possible due to a combination of initiatives undertaken by the central and state governments, such as digitization of the supply chain and beneficiary database, improvement in storage and transportation infrastructure, and improved monitoring aided by technology.